Sold to the Alphas

8

The roses arrived at dawn.

Blood-red petals scattered across my pillow, their perfume cloying and sweet just like Lucian’s smile when he leaned over me, his dark curls brushing my cheek.

"For my favorite little omega," he purred, tucking one behind my ear.

I should have known then.

Roses have thorns.

It was the way he watched me at dinner that night—his golden eyes tracking every bite I took, his fingers drumming restlessly against his goblet.

"Eat up, darling," Lucian murmured, pushing a plate of honeyed figs toward me. "You’ll need your strength."

Kael grunted in approval. Riven said nothing, but his icy gaze lingered on Lucian’s too-casual posture.

Only Jax seemed uneasy, his scarred nose wrinkling as he sniffed the air. "The hell’s that smell?"

Lucian’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. "Just a new perfume."

I woke gasping, my veins on fire.

The room spun violently, shadows twisting into monstrous shapes. My heartbeat thundered in my ears, too fast, too wrong.

“Wh…..what did you….?” I choked out, clawing at the sheets.

Lucian stood silhouetted in the doorway, his expression unreadable. "Wolf’s bane," he said softly. "Just enough to make you pliant."

Footsteps pounded down the hall Kael’s enraged roar, Riven’s cold curses, Jax’s bellow of betrayal.

But Lucian was already dragging me upright, his hand clamped over my mouth.

"Shhh, sweet thing," he whispered as the poison blurred my vision. "This will only hurt until you stop fighting it."

They found us in the old hunting lodge at the territory’s edge.

Kael burst through the door first, his claws already extended. Riven and Jax flanked him, their snarls vibrating the very air.

Lucian didn’t run. He lounged against the hearth, me limp in his lap, his fingers stroking my hair like a lover’s caress.

"Took you long enough," he drawled.

"You drugged her," Kael hissed.

Lucian’s smile was all teeth. "I did what you couldn’t. Made her truly ours." He pressed a kiss to my fevered brow. "The poison’s keyed to our scents now. She’ll ache without us."

Riven went very still. "You bound her."

"To the pack. To me." Lucian’s grip tightened possessively. "Forever."

What happened next was a blur of violence—Kael’s claws ripping into Lucian’s chest, Jax’s fists cracking bone, Riven’s cold fury as he wrenched me away.

But even as they dragged him bleeding into the dungeons, Lucian laughed.

"You’ll thank me," he gasped through broken teeth. "When she’s begging for our touch."

And the worst part?

As the fever spiked and my body arched between them, I realized…

He was right.

The hunger comes in waves.

At first, it’s just a whisper—a restless heat beneath my skin, a dryness in my throat no water can quench. I tell myself I can ignore it.

Then the tremors start.

My fingers twitch first, craving the scrape of claws down my hips. My lungs tighten, desperate for the musk of alpha sweat, the cedar-and-iron tang of their skin. By the time the fever hits, I’m drowning in it every nerve ending screaming for their hands, their teeth, the brutal stretch of their knots.

It feels like dying.

Like my blood has been replaced with liquid fire, burning me alive from the inside out. I thrash against the sheets, my back arching, my thighs slick with need. The pain is exquisite….sharp as a blade between my ribs, yet twisted with pleasure so intense it blurs into agony.

I whimper Kael’s name into the dark.

The poison laughs in my veins.

When they withhold their touch, the real torment begins.

Cold sweat soaks my body. My muscles lock and spasm, my vision fracturing at the edges. I claw at my own skin, trying to dig out the emptiness festering beneath.

It feels like being skinned alive.

Like every inch of me is raw, over-sensitive, yet starving for more. The scent of them lingers in the air—Riven’s winter frost, Jax’s smoky aggression, Kael’s thunderstorms—and it breaks me. I sob, rocking against the mattress, my body convulsing around nothing.

I’d sell my soul for a single finger inside me.

When they finally give in, it’s worse.

Kael pins me flat, his growl vibrating through my bones. "This what you need, little omega?"

His bite is bliss.

The moment his teeth break skin, the poison purrs in satisfaction. My vision whites out as pleasure detonates down my spine, liquid heat flooding my veins. It’s not enough. It’s too much. I scream as Riven’s fingers twist in my hair, as Jax’s calloused palms grip my hips.

It feels like falling.

Like I’ve stepped off a cliff and the wind is tearing me apart, but I don’t care because the rush is everything. Their scents, their sweat, their c*m it’s all I am now.

And when Lucian smirks down from the dungeon bars, his lips mouthing "I told you so," I hate myself most of all. The full moon painted the forest in silver as Mira’s war party descended upon Bloodmoon territory.

I saw them from the tower window torches cutting through the trees like falling stars, the glint of steel, the war cries of allied packs who’d rallied behind her. My best friend led the charge, her red hair blazing under the moonlight, her once-soft eyes hardened into something dangerous.

"Elara!" Her scream tore through the night. "I’m coming for you!"

Kael’s hands clamped down on my shoulders, his breath hot against my ear. "You don’t belong to them anymore."

But the poison in my veins sang at the sight of her.

The pack dragged me to the gates, my body trembling with withdrawal.

Mira stood ten paces away, an arrow nocked and aimed straight at Kael’s heart. "Let her go," she snarled. "Or I’ll put this through your skull."

Lucian laughed from where he was chained to the post, his lips still bruised from Riven’s fists. "Oh, this is rich—"

"SHUT UP!" Mira’s voice cracked. "You drugged her! You turned her into—into this!" Her gaze flicked to me, taking in my feverish skin, the fresh bite marks, the way my fingers clutched at Jax’s arm for balance.

I saw the exact moment her heart broke.

"Elara," she whispered. “Please."

Kael stepped forward, his alpha command rolling like thunder. "She stays."

Riven’s ice-cold logic cut through the tension. "If she leaves, the withdrawal will kill her."

Jax’s grip on me tightened. "And if you try to take her," he growled at Mira, "we’ll slaughter every last one of you."

Silence.

Then

"Let her decide."

All eyes turned to Lucian.

Blood dripped from his split lip as he grinned. "Put the arrow down, little rabbit. Let our omega choose."

Mira’s arrow didn’t waver. "Elara. Look at me."

I forced myself to meet her gaze.

"Do you want this?" Her voice was raw. "The bites? The poison? Them?"

My body ached with the truth.

I opened my mouth and ruined everything

The arrow wasn’t meant for Kael.

It struck Lucian square in the chest.

"NO!" I screamed as he slumped against his chains, crimson blooming across his shirt.

Chaos erupted. Wolves howled. Steel clashed.

But all I saw was Lucian’s smirk as he choked on his own blood. "Guess I... miscalculated."

Kael roared, shoving me toward Riven. "Get her inside!"

But I was already running not toward safety, but toward Lucian.

Toward the boy who’d ruined me.

The boy I couldn’t let die.